A HEAVENLY PEOPLE
D. A. Steven
Numbers 15: 37–41; Acts 3: 1–11
What I have in mind, dear brethren, is to say a word about what is heavenly. The hymn we sang had a reference to heavenly springs (Hymn 213, verse 4), and our brother referred to
‘And see! the Spirit’s power
Has ope’d the heavenly door’ (Hymn 74).
We are a heavenly people but we are down here as pilgrims in this scene. There is a verse which says, “even as he is, we also are in this world” (1 John 4: 17), which is a remarkable statement; that is as Christ is, the heavenly One, where He is in glory, so we also are in this world. That is the divine view of the saints; as He is so we also are in this world.
Numbers 15 is a wonderful chapter in many ways. It begins with the people serving God, after a period of great trouble when the people had disobeyed, and Moses had intervened in a beautiful way for them. They were smitten by the Amalekites and the Canaanites, then Jehovah said, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of your dwellings”, Numbers 15: 2. God had in mind that they would come into the land of their dwellings. Then there were the various offerings, the lamb, and the ram and the bullock; but all had to have a certain measure. With the lamb in the offering to Jehovah there was a tenth part of fine flour, with the ram two tenths, and with the bullock three tenths of fine flour. It is an interesting chapter where God speaks of this offering, and, of course, the fine flour is a reference in type to the humanity of Christ, to our apprehension of it. Now as we present our offering, Are we like the offering we present? Are we in keeping with the offering we present? That is my exercise, that is what I feel for myself. We come to the meetings and take part in the service of God, but am I really in keeping with that?
So it goes on to the sin of inadvertence and then the wilful sin, where there is serious judgment. God will not tolerate the will of man. He was only out gathering sticks, you may say, but it was on the sabbath. Of course it was a complete exertion of his own will in relation to God and so he was dealt with, he was put outside the camp and stoned. But then it comes on to this beautiful section which was in my heart—“And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and bid them that they make them tassels on the corners of their garments”.
Garments are what we are and what we represent, and the tassels are how we appear down here. Then on the tassels there is this lace of blue; lace is a very delicate thing and it could be easily damaged, but it is to be on the tassels. I understand that means how they were to appear down here, they were to appear as a heavenly people. The tassels on the corners are laced with blue, it is a heavenly suggestion. God has that in mind for His people; they were going into the land but they were to be a heavenly people. We are going to be with Christ and we are to be a heavenly people. There is to be a tassel with a lace of blue at every corner, at every turn. We come here on Lord’s day, and then we have Monday, Tuesday, and how do the tassels appear as we turn into our ordinary everyday circumstances? The tassels are to be in evidence. I feel the challenge of it myself, dear brethren, as to whether that is so with me.
The garments are what a man is circumstantially and the tassels with the lace of blue are to be at the corners. Now is it so, that wherever I turn in all my circumstances, there is an evidence down here of what is heavenly? That is simply what I had in mind, “it shall be unto you for a tassel, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them”. God is not altering His standard; He has not changed His standard, and we have to be in keeping with that standard in our walk here.
I just thought of the example here in the Acts, it is very simple. I think it is pretty clear that these representatives of God were heavenly men, Peter and John. They were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, and I think the tassels would be in evidence and the lace of blue would be in evidence as these men walked up to the temple. You think of them, God’s elite down here, these great representatives! They had nothing of this world in their hearts, they were called as fishermen, called to follow Christ, and here they were. The Lord Jesus had completed the precious work of redemption and He was now on high.
What was left here was a heavenly people, just a few you may say; it was the beginning of things, and what a representation is seen in these two heavenly men. The tassels and the lace of blue were displayed as they walked up to the temple at the hour of prayer. How attractive that is! Then is it attractive to us? As we see the saints coming into the meetings, is it attractive to us that that is what we are?
You think of others too that came into contact with the heavenly Man when He was here.
You think of the woman who was ill those twelve years, who, coming up behind Jesus, touched the hem of His garment and was cured (Luke 8: 44). How wonderful one touch! The Lord said, Who has touched Me? They said to Him, Well, Lord there are plenty of people about, but He said, “Some one has touched me, for I have known that power has gone out from me”. The woman fell down before Him and declared before all the people why she had touched Him. What would she be when she had touched the hem of His garment? He said to her, “Be of good courage, daughter ... go in peace”. You have touched the hem of My garment, now I want you to go in peace and on the hem of your garment will be the tassels and the lace of blue; you can be here for Me in this world as a representative of Me as a heavenly person. As we come into contact with Jesus, He wants us to be heavenly persons here. There are others who, as having come into contact with the Lord, would be amongst the heavenly people, and so we are today.
This man in Acts 3 would come into it too, he held on to Peter and John. Peter said, “Look on us”, and it would not be on anything that was natural in Peter and John. But Peter would want him to look on what was typified in the tassels and the lace of blue. What was being expressed in these men was what was heavenly, and what they had, they wanted him to have.
So Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazaraean”, the lowly One, the blessed One, now in glory “rise up and walk”. The work has been done, and we are here as His representatives,
“Look on us”, we are representing what is on high. There is something down here, beloved brethren, that we have part in, that is immense. God views us in the light of everything having been cleared. All the things that stood out against us have been cleared (Colossians 2: 13, 14).
God looks on us as a heavenly people because we have been quickened with the Christ. It involves Christ’s death and resurrection, and that He is a glorious heavenly Man in a new condition. So it says of us, “he has quickened together with him, having forgiven us all the offences” that is with Christ, how wonderful that is! That is how we are viewed. It is not a question of our moral responsibility, it is how we are viewed, “having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which stood out against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”, Colossians 2: 14. He has taken away everything, that is how God views us. Then it says, “having spoiled principalities and authorities, he made a show of them publicly, leading them in triumph by it”, Colossians 2: 15. What a victory has been accomplished through the death of Christ and the cross, and it is for us.
I just had these few thoughts in mind. As He is, we also are in this world. May that be true of us, may it be true of me! I feel the challenge of it. Then, “such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”, 1 Corinthians 15: 48. That is how we are to be here. May there be a greater expression of it, so as God looks down He can see us as a heavenly people. Despite all the things that came in with the children of Israel, how they disobeyed, and the way they turned against God, and against Moses and Aaron, God still led them into the land. How God felt things and was going to judge them, and they were judged, but then He says, “When ye come into the land”, Numbers 15: 2. May these words encourage all our hearts, for His name’s sake.
Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth
7 January 1997